Learn how to talk about the future using both the Russian present tense and the future tense of Russian verbs
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Eric: Eric here. Beginner Series Season 1, Lesson 13 – “You should try to improve your future in Russia.” Hi, my name is Eric and I'm joined here by… |
| Anna: Anna. Welcome back to RussianPod101.com. |
| Eric: In the previous lesson we talked about Russian bazaars and speaking to vendors at the market. |
| Anna: The focus of this lesson is how to ask someone what they are doing and a common response, “I don’t know”. |
| Eric: This conversation takes place on the phone. |
| Anna: The conversation is between James and Serghei. |
| Eric: Anna, how good is your masculine voice? |
| Anna: Oh, Eric. |
| Eric: Anna, you can do it. |
| Anna: Don’t make do this. |
| Eric: Alright. The speakers are friends, therefore the speakers will be speaking informally. Now, if you’re listening on an iPod, click the center button or tap the screen on an iTouch or iPhone to see the notes for this lesson while you listen. |
| Anna: This is really effective for improving your reading ability. |
| Eric: Yes, Anna, it’s a really great feature. |
| Anna: Now let’s listen to today’s conversation. |
| Eric: I, as always, will be playing James. And introducing in the role of Serghei, Anna Lemeshkina. |
| Anna: Oh, my gosh. |
| Eric: Ok, let’s do this, Anna. |
| Anna: Ok. I’ll try my best. |
| Eric: Alright. Ok, here we go. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Eric: [Алло?] |
| Anna: [Привет. Что ты делаешь в субботу?] |
| Eric: [Ещё не знаю.] |
| Anna: [Приходи обедать! Жена будет очень рада.] |
| Eric: Once again, slowly. |
| Anna: Еще раз, медленнее. |
| Eric: [Алло?] |
| Anna: [Привет. Что ты делаешь в субботу?] |
| Eric: [Ещё не знаю.] |
| Anna: [Приходи обедать! Жена будет очень рада.] |
| Eric: One time, natural native speed, with the translation. |
| Anna: Еще раз, с переводом. |
| Anna: [Что ты делаешь в субботу?] |
| Eric: What are you doing on Saturday? |
| Anna: [Ещё не знаю] |
| Eric: I don’t know yet. |
| Anna: [Приходи обедать! Жена будет очень рада.] |
| Eric: Come for lunch. My wife will be really glad. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Eric: Anna, it was such a great man voice. |
| Anna: Did you like it? Come on, Eric. |
| Eric: But what happened to your voice in the slower part? |
| Anna: Eric, we are learning Russian here. It’s not a comedy show. |
| Eric: Oh, I thought it was a comedy show. Is that what we’re doing here? |
| Anna: And it’s not even her show. |
| Eric: Oh, wow. That was a bad joke on [хорошо], her show. Ok, wow. This really is not a comedy show now. Ok. Getting back to the lesson, Anna, is it common for Russians to invite someone over to their home for lunch or dinner? |
| Anna: Yeah, it’s very common. And friends usually go to each other’s houses every so often. |
| Eric: Ok. So should the person being invited, in this case James, be expected to bring something? Say a bottle of wine or food as we sometimes do in the US. |
| Anna: You know, Eric, in Russia it goes without saying. So for example, in the US you might ask whether you need to bring something or not, but in Russia you just bring. |
| Eric: Ok. And what kinds of things are common to bring to a friend’s house? |
| Anna: For example, you can bring something sweet like cakes or fruits. |
| Eric: Ok. And what about wine or… |
| Anna: Or vodka you mean? |
| Eric: I don’t know. |
| Anna: No, you can bring whatever you want. Whatever you want to eat, whatever you want to drink, because if you bring it, you can expect to eat it. |
| Eric: So Anna, basically you bring your own food and drink for yourself, not for your guests? |
| Anna: No, it’s not true. You’re just bringing something to share. |
| Eric: Ok. So if I invite you over, you’re not going to bring something and then consume the entire thing, right? |
| Anna: Of course not. |
| Eric: So what would you bring over, for example. |
| Anna: Because you’re American, maybe I’ll ask you what do you want me to bring. |
| Eric: And if I said anything you like? |
| Anna: I’ll probably bring cake. |
| Eric: Ok, sounds good to me. [торт] |
| Anna: Ok. |
| Eric: Alright, great. Ok, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Eric: Our first word is… |
| Anna: [делать] |
| Eric: To do, to make. |
| Anna: [делать] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [суббота] |
| Eric: Saturday. |
| Anna: [суббота] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [знать] |
| Eric: To know. |
| Anna: [знать] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [приходить] |
| Eric: To come. |
| Anna: [приходить] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [обедать] |
| Eric: To have lunch. |
| Anna: [обедать] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [жена] |
| Eric: Wife. |
| Anna: [жена] |
| Eric: Next. |
| Anna: [рад] |
| Eric: Glad, happy. |
| Anna: [рад] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Eric: Ok, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases for this lesson. |
| Anna: The first word we’ll look at is [делать]. |
| Eric: Which means “to do”, but also “to make” or “to produce”. So in the context of this conversation, we used it as an inquiry, as kind of a lead-up to asking someone over, inviting someone over, right? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: We asked [что ты делаешь?], “What are you doing?” |
| Anna: So for example, if Eric I want to invite you tonight somewhere… |
| Eric: Ok. |
| Anna: I can… |
| Eric: Actually, I'm busy. |
| Anna: Come on. Let me give example. |
| Eric: Alright, alright, alright. |
| Anna: Ok, so I would say [Что ты делаешь сегодня?]. Means… |
| Eric: What are you doing today? |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: [что ты делаешь] “what are you doing”, [сегодня] “today”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: And I would say [я занят]. |
| Anna: I’m busy. |
| Eric: I’m busy. |
| Anna: Ok, ok. |
| Eric: Anna, I'm just kidding. Of course, I'm always free for you. |
| Anna: Oh, too late. |
| Eric: Oh, ouch. Ok, let’s just move on to the next phrase. Anna, the next phrase “I don’t know”. How do you say “I don’t know” in Russian? |
| Anna: We usually say [я не знаю]. |
| Eric: But you could also say [не знаю] right, without saying [я] or “I”? |
| Anna: Right. So sometimes you just omit it. |
| Eric: So you can just say “don’t know” [не знаю]. |
| Anna: [не знаю] |
| Eric: “Don’t know” – it’s the same as “I don’t know” but it’s kind of a quicker way to say it. [не знаю] |
| Anna: [не знаю] |
| Eric: “Don’t know”, “I don’t know”. Ok, good. We also have the verb [обедать]. It’s used to talk about the afternoon meal. When is the afternoon meal usually in Russia, Anna? |
| Anna: I think it’s from 1 o’clock to 3, maybe. |
| Eric: When do you usually eat lunch? |
| Anna: About 12. |
| Eric: So a bit earlier. |
| Anna: Early because I have different schedule, my school. Yeah. |
| Eric: Ok, but it’s still, you would still use the verb [обедать]? |
| Anna: Yeah, of course, [обедать]. |
| Eric: Midday or afternoon meal. |
| Anna: Yes. |
| Eric: Lunch basically. |
| Anna: Yeah, true. |
| Eric: Ok. |
| Anna: Now let’s talk about the word [рад]. |
| Eric: Which means? |
| Anna: Glad. |
| Eric: So in the dialogue we have [Жена будет очень рада]. |
| Anna: [рада] |
| Eric: Ok, so literally translated “wife will be very glad”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Anna, I remember when I first started learning Russian, I would say [я рада]. |
| Anna: Really? |
| Eric: But my host family was so nice that they never said anything to me, although I wish they had since I didn’t want to sound like a Russian woman. |
| Anna: That’s true. |
| Eric: So Anna, what was my mistake? I said [я рада]. What should I have said? |
| Anna: [я рад] because you’re a man. |
| Eric: Ok, but now you can say [я рад] because you are Serghei. |
| Anna: That’s true. But only in this dialogue. |
| Eric: Ok, ok. If a woman says “I’m glad” she would say… |
| Anna: [я рада] |
| Eric: And if a man says “I’m glad”? |
| Anna: [я рад] |
| Eric: Ok, great. Ok, it’s our favorite time of the lesson, grammar time. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Anna: Woo-hoo. |
| Eric: Ya-hey. |
| Anna: Wake up. Eric, I mean you, wake up. |
| Eric: Me? I thought you were talking to the listeners. Ok. Ok, like in English, we can use the present progressive or “I’m going” to talk about the future plans if they are very exact. Anna, can you give us an example? |
| Anna: Of course. [Что вы делаете завтра?] |
| Eric: What are you doing tomorrow? |
| Anna: Another example could be [В эту субботу я работаю]. |
| Eric: Anna, let’s break this sentence down into its literal meaning, ok? |
| Anna: Ok. |
| Eric: [В эту] |
| Anna: In this. |
| Eric: [субботу] |
| Anna: Saturday. |
| Eric: [я] |
| Anna: I. |
| Eric: [работаю] |
| Anna: Literally “work”, but in this context “am working”. |
| Eric: Ok, so let’s have the sentence again. |
| Anna: [В эту субботу я работаю] |
| Eric: “This Saturday I work”. So literally “In this Saturday, I work” or “This Saturday I'm working”. Ok, Anna, our next word is the verb [быть]. |
| Anna: We can use this verb in its future form to speak about the future. |
| Eric: Just like in the dialogue, [Жена будет очень рада] “My wife will be very glad.” [будет] “will be”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok, so can we have a few more examples, Anna? |
| Anna: Ok. For example, [Я буду очень рада]. |
| Eric: So you as saying as a girl “I will be very glad”. |
| Anna: Yes, about myself. |
| Eric: And if I said it, I would say [Я буду очень рад]. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok, how about “We will be there tomorrow”? |
| Anna: Oh, good. [Мы будем там завтра] |
| Eric: [Мы будем там] “there” [завтра] “tomorrow”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: Ok. How about “What will you be doing?” |
| Anna: [Что вы будете делать?] |
| Eric: One more time, slower? |
| Anna: [Что вы будете делать?] |
| Eric: [что] “what”, [вы] formal “you”, [будете] formal for “will you” or “you will”, [делать] “to do”. |
| Anna: Right. |
| Eric: What will you be doing? |
| Anna: [Что вы будете делать?] |
| Eric: Great. So let’s go over the verb [быть] in all its forms. |
| Anna: [я буду] |
| Eric: I will. |
| Anna: [ты будешь] |
| Eric: You will. |
| Anna: [он, она будет] |
| Eric: He, she will. |
| Anna: [мы будем] |
| Eric: We will. |
| Anna: [вы будете] |
| Eric: You will – formal. |
| Anna: [они будут] |
| Eric: “They will”. |
Outro |
| Eric: Please see the PDF for this lesson for the verb [быть] and for a chart of the days of the week. Ok, Anna, that just about wraps it up for today. |
| Anna: My favorite. Please, don’t forget that you can leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Eric: That’s right, Anna, it’s very easy to do. Just stop by RussianPod101.com, click on ‘Comments’, enter your comment and name, and that’s it. |
| Anna: So if you have any questions or some feedback, please leave us a comment. |
| Eric: We’re looking forward to hearing from you. See you again. |
| Anna: [До встречи] |
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